Identifying Modernist Metaphors, Symbols, Images in Short Modernist Poems

 Interpretation of ten short modernist  poems

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Here is my interpretation of ten short poems, with modern metaphors and symbols.

Characteristics of Modern Age:

• Meta-narrative
• Classical allusion
• Inter textual
• Free verse
• Open form
• Dislocation of meaning
• Breakdown of social norms
• Loss of faith
• Realism
• Rejection of old norms
• Meaninglessness
• Complex
• Reconstruction of new values

1.) ‘The Embankment‘- T. E. Hulme

Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy,

In a flash of gold heels on the hard pavement.

Now see I

That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy.

Oh, God, make small

The old star-eaten blanket of the sky,

That I may fold it round me and in comfort lie.

The analysis of this short poem available on internet says: Fallen Gentleman reflects on his pas and how he found pleasure in worldly social activities such as musical gathering and dances. Here “Flash of Gold Heels” represents the beautiful women and “hard pavement” represents the hard and rough side of the society. But the darker side of this phrase “Flash of Gold Heels with Hard Pavement” is though she is beautiful but she is prostitute as well. Here is a symbol like “star-eaten blanket” shows that usually stars represent beauty in the darker sky and also we can say that star represents the hope in the situation of darkness.

2.) "Darkness" - Joseph Campbell

      

               Darkness

        I stop to watch a star shine

        in the boghole -

        A star no longer, but a silver

         ribbon of light.

        I look at it and pass on.

In this poem poet talks about the night scene and the importance of stars in the dark sky. There is a word “star” shows the beauty of stars in the dark sky and without stars sky is all dark and “darkness” itself is the symbol of “fall”. But star is a symbol of brightness and hope. So here we can say that shine of a star and a silver ribbon represents the positive side of this age.

3.) 'Image' - Edward Storer

   

          Forsaken lovers,

       Burning to a chaste white moon

       Upon strange Pyres of loneliness and

       drought.

The dictionary meaning of “forsaken” is “to give up” so here “forsaken lovers” represents the fall. Here is a phrase “forsaken lovers burning” so here we can say that they are burning in lost as T.S Eliot discussed this in the third part “the fire sermon” in this part he discussed about the people who are burning and lost in spiritual degradation.

4.) "In a station of the Metro" - Ezra Pound

       

  The apparition of these faces in the Crowd;

  Petals on a wet, black bough

Here “Metro” itself is a symbol of Modernism and the crowd represents the people. So here we can say that it represents the people who are living physically but mentally they all are dead because of their daily hasty schedule. “Bough” is a branch of a tree, and here he used “black bough” which means the dead branch of a tree (culture). Here society is a tree and branch is culture.

5.) 'The Pool' - Hilda Doolittle

      

       Are you alive?

       I touch you

       You quiver trembling like a sea-fish

       I cover you with my net

       What are you- banded one?

Whenever we hear the word “pool” then there is only one thing came in our mind and that is a place where we can swim or have fun. But here we can relate “sea fish” with T.S Eliot’s “The Wasteland” in which he discussed about the unreal cities like “London”. As we all know that water is in pool is not flowing like river which symbolizes the stability of society and the rigidness of people mind.

6.) "Insouciance" – Richard Aldington

      

      In and out of the dreary trenches

       Trudging cheerily under the stars

       I make for myself little poems

       Delicate as a flock of doves

       They fly away like white-winged

        Doves.

In this poem there are many images like “dreary trenches” which means a dark hole or dug in the ground, it is used as a metaphors for the ups and downs of life, or we can say that life is a two side of one coin one is negative and one is positive. There are other words like “trudging” and “cheerily” which represents the image of a person who has to do his work but he don’t want to do. Here poet focused upon the ups and downs of life during the rough time of a person.

7.) Morning at the Window - T. S. Eliot

They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,

And along the trampled edges of the street

I am aware of the damp souls of housemaid

Sprouting despondently at area gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me

Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,

And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts

An aimless smile that hovers in the air

 And vanishes along the level of the roofs.

In this poem there are many words like “rattling”, “damp souls”, “despondently”, “fog”, “twisted faces”, “fear”, “aimless”. Here we can find negativity I each line which represents the darker side. In this poem we can find images of “dullness” and “dead spirit”. Here we  can refer  the first part “the burial of dead” of T.S Eliot’s “The Wasteland” in this poem also we can find negativity all around. In this part Eliot used the image of “dull roots”, “snow” and “a heap of broken images”.

8.) The Red Wheelbarrow -William Carlos Williams

so much depends

 upon

a red wheel

barrow

 glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chicken.

Here we can say that poet used the word “wheel”, “rain”, “water” and “white chicken”. The dictionary meaning of “wheel borrows” is “a small, one wheeled cart with handles at one end for transporting small loads. It Is like “bullock cart” but bullock cart is pushed by bull but wheel borrow may be pushed by man for transporting little goods and luggage's. Here we can see that the poet uses “chicken” which is the younger one of hen/cock. So we can say that it is a poem about the sacrifice of a younger one in this modern age.

9.) Anecdote of the Jar- Wallace Stevens

I placed a jar in Tennessee,    

And round it was, upon a hill.  

It made the slovenly wilderness  

Surround that hill.

The wilderness rose up to it,

And sprawled around, no longer wild.  

The jar was round upon the ground  

And tall and of a port in air.

It took dominion everywhere.  

The jar was gray and bare.

It did not give of bird or bush,  

Like nothing else in Tennessee.

The poem is about the control over civilization of a state or a place. Here poet discussed about the state “Tennessee” in United States of America. In this poem poet placed a jar on the hill. After some time jar at hill owns the place slowly and steadily. Through this line poet wants to say that how an outsider comes as different place and owns that place or we can say that an outsider made its place on that place slowly and steadily. There is one word “wilderness” which represents the unsettled way of an outsider. There is a phrase “sprawled outsider” which means to spread out in a disorderly fashion.

10.) ‘l (a‘- E. E. Cummings

l(a

le

af

fa

ll

s)

one

l

iness

The title of the poem “A leaf falls on loneliness” shows itself the state of being alone and solitude. There is a word “fall” which represents the state of dullness. It can be fall of civilization, individual’s hope or fall of anything else. If a leaf falls from tree then the fallen leaf become lonely. In Modernist Literature we can see fall of spirituality and also fall of hope. Loneliness represents the separation from the entire world. So here we can say that this poem represents the state of separation from the entire world and also represents the state of self centeredness.